When 84-year-old La Jolla native Don Baker heard that a group of 70-year-olds had set a record for being the oldest team to swim the 21-mile Catalina Channel, the competitive swimmer had one goal: Blow that record out of the water.

On Thursday, Baker and five other 80-somethings — including Carlsbad’s Bill Spore, 80, and San Diego High School graduate Dave Radcliff, 81 — did just that, completing a relay from the island to the mainland in 12 hours, 15 minutes and 23 seconds.

Taking one-hour turns, the six octogenarians who make up The Old Men and the Sea team not only set the record for the oldest to swim the channel, they tacked on an extra mile or so to show up those 70-year-old upstarts even more.

Baker, who swims daily at La Jolla Cove when he’s here for the summer from Arizona, said he dove into action by one of the oldest motivators — he was told he couldn’t do it.

“These guys were telling me it was a record nobody’s ever going to break,” Baker said, of the 2013 relay accomplishment by La Jolla’s Swell Guys Too.

“I thought, ‘I know a few guys who might do that,’” Baker said.

So he called up some friends who called up friends, most of whom just happened to be internationally known swimmers.

Then they trained for about 10 months.

“We’re all excited about doing something that’s never been done before,” Baker said. “It was sort of magical,” he said of the nighttime swim, which began at 11 p.m. Wednesday. “With each stroke, you could see the fluorescence of your arm in the water. That’s all the light I needed.”

The men might all be accomplished swimmers — Radcliff, for example, who now lives in Oregon, was an All-American at the University of California Berkeley and competed in the 1,500-meter freestyle in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia — but when they boarded the support boat that traveled the course alongside them, they were showing their age.

“Here were these 84-, 85-year-olds, they stumbled up the stairs, they were like old men, but when they got in the water, they looked like the fit swimmers that they are, not even looking up, just swimming,” said Spore, a retired physician.

“That was a thrill for me to see that.”

Paula Selby, 60, of La Mesa, a member of the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation board who acted as one of two official observers for the relay, said a few of the team members struggled a bit in the water due to being disoriented at night.

“You want to cut these guys some slack,” she said, laughing.

“They’re role models, they’re the shining example that you can still pursue remarkable goals, and it is a remarkable feat. I hope I’m in the position to swim in the channel in my 80s. That means I’m doing something right.”

Colin Depp, an associate professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego who specializes in aging, said the swimmers are sending the message that people can continue to set ambitious goals for themselves no matter their age.

“It’s an achievement not just for this group but for people’s perception of aging, what people are capable of in their 80s,” Depp said. “People are expanding the life span, and they’re also expanding the health span.”

Exactly, said Baker, a retired pharmacist who attended La Jolla High School and lived in Escondido for 40 years.

Two members of The Old Men and the Sea have prostate cancer. Baker himself has metastatic cancer spreading through his body, has limited use of his legs and has had nine stents put into his heart.

“Just because you have a disease state or health issues in your 80s, that doesn’t mean you can’t have goals and go and achieve something special every year,” Baker said.

“There’s your headline: ‘Go Achieve Something Special Every Year.’”

/ Photo by Paula Selby

Claudia Rose, in kayak, and Kevin Eslinger, on paddleboard, spot Bob Beach during his last leg of the 22-mile relay swim from Catalina Island to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Claudia Rose, in kayak, and Kevin Eslinger, on paddleboard, spot Bob Beach during his last leg of the 22-mile relay swim from Catalina Island to the Palos Verdes Peninsula. (/ Photo by Paula Selby)

Dressed only in regulation swimsuits — no wetsuits allowed — and one swim cap and goggles, the men found ideal conditions in the water.

Temperatures were in the warmer-than-average low 70s. There were minimal swells and winds, which usually kick up in the morning hours, actually calmed even more than they had been, Selby said.

In between swimming their legs of the relay, the men could eat, sleep or cheer on their fellow teammates from the side of the support craft, a sports fishing boat outfitted with nearly 20 bunk beds. When the 12th and final leg — completed by Baker — ended on the sandy beach at Portuguese Bend on the Palos Verdes Peninsula around 12 p.m. Thursday, The Old Men and the Sea were greeted with fanfare by friends, family, noted competitive swimmers and members of the media.

After napping at their hotel in San Pedro, the men got dressed up, gathered for photos and headed to a celebration banquet attended by about 50 people.

All of the fuss seemed a little out of proportion to Spore, considering most of the team members are master swimmers and individual record holders.